The stolen memorial, made from a sleeper, closely mirrored one in Oppy, France, where Harrison was killed while charging a machine gun to save his men during the First World War.

It was taken from a clearing in woodland off Dane Park Road, at the boundary between Orchard Park and Cottingham, which was created in the 1980s to remember Hull's fallen.

FAN: Darren with Hull FC winger Mahe Fonua

Married dad-of-two Mr Smith, who left the Army in 1999 after 17 years with the Coldstream Guards, said: "It beggars belief that someone could have stolen a memorial to someone like Jack. How someone could go that low is beyond me.

"This touches the two things I love most - the military and Hull FC. I'm now offering to make a replacement, free-of-charge."